Maximum PC

Hey Everyone,

I am really hoping someone can help me with this because apparently my ISP can't..

I live in Canada and my ISP is called Cogeco Cable. I am running a Cable modem. I have tried running the connection through a router as well as being connected directly to the modem.

I am running a wired connection.

I seem to loose internet connection at random. Sometimes a few times a week, sometimes multiple times a day. It stays down anywhere from 8 to 10 hours, and sometimes I can get it back up and going in 30 to 45 minutes.

I get it back up by resetting the modem either by pressing the button in the back or by disconnecting the power. I wait anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes before I reconnect the modem, it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Sometimes the modem with continually reset itself. I can sit there watching it, it will connect stay connected for about 30 seconds, and then reset all by itself and reconnects. It has done this upwards for 5 or 6 times in a row before it gains a stable connection.

My ISP has sent 4 service people over since they installed it 3 months ago. It has never worked consistently. Tomorrow they are sending the 5th.

So far they have :

Replaced the modem

Checked and replaced some of the connections that are inside my house coming from the outside.

Set up a temporary line running straight from the cable box at the street, up the lamp post and into my house.

I have also taken the actual cable cord coming from the wall into the modem and replaced it with one that we were using for the TV that has always worked.

None of this seems to make a difference. I suspected someone had cloned my MAC address but I have check my usage and it has not gone up.

I also have my home phone service through the cable company as well. When my internet goes down, my phone goes down too. Although recently I noticed something strange. Sometimes I will have internet service, but not phone service. Is it possible my phone, or my phone line is sending feedback, or some how interfering with my internet connection?

I am very discouraged and really at a loss of what to do. I can't imagine what this 5th guy coming tomorrow is going to do differently.

Any suggestions are most appreciated. Thank you.

Hopefully they are not the only game in town.

If you have a second PC/laptop connect it and see if the same problem occurs. This will tell you it is definitely on their end.

As it stands now it could be your PC or their line/modem.

Hopefully you tried another Ethernet cable from your modem to your PC to rule it out.

The fact that the phone fails as well tends to tell me it is their line.

I'd have the 6th guy take it out. I will say this; I have Cox in Phoenix, AZ and was one of the first high speed Internet customers. It is hot and dry and the seals on the splitter box up on the telephone pole had seals that could not handle my environment. July-Sept is one of two rainy seasons here and whenever it would rain, water would leak inside the box and I would have to call and they would come out and replace the seal which would be good until the next summer. Could be something as dumb as that (but at least they knew about it and got it permanently fixed eventually).

Thanks for your response. I posted my question on Toms Hardware as well and a poster there new exactly what to look for.

That thread can be found here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/42112 ... et#t151560

If anyone is curious or has a similar problem. It turned out that my upstream was way to high, we found this out my accessing my modem through my internet browser. He said this could be caused by running the cable line through too man splitters.

Well it turned out it wasn't the splitters but the cable jack that is in the wall itself. Just to test it out I disconnected the cable that went into the wall jack and connected the modem directly into the splitter inside the breaker box. When I did that my upstream db's went down 9db instantly. Since I have done that I have had no problems.

The ISP service guy came over today, and I explained to him what I had done, showing him the old readings in the modem before I bypassed the wall jack and then showing him the new readings. He double checked them on his laptop as well. He did say that the first readings were way too high for upstream.

He really didn't have any more ideas as to what it could be, he admitted that they were out of ideas as well. I'm not blaming anyone, especially if the problem is with my own jack inside my wall. He did test the jack and his equipment said it looked OK, but he did say it can not always see everything.

Anyway, that is my story, My connection has only been stable for about 19 hours now, so it might be too early to celebrate, but if it goes down after this it's gone.

They are the only cable provider in town, so I'd have to switch to DSL, which makes me sad, but I would rather have a stable connection.